To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

It's my yoga phase! I don't know how long it will last, b/c the first day I ever even tried it half-ass, it almost killed me! Let me tell you the story:

Okay, so I got some wild hair in my ass the other day that I wanted TJ and I to do yoga together. Where it came from, I don't know. So I got online and looked up kid yoga videos, b/c I figured he certainly wouldn't want to do adult yoga with me. I found a few, but one, called Animal Yoga or something, was everywhere I looked. I went to the library the other day, and whaddya know, there it was! So, I figured I'd check it out first and see if TJ would even play along.

So, I pull out the DVD yesterday and pop it in. We needed something active to do together, and I was in no mood to play cars again for the three-thousandth time this week. The first, and not possible to ignore, thing I noticed was just how very trippy the chicks on the video were. Their names were Wasabi (spicy green goo?) and Lil' Chi, and they were wearing little jewels all along their foreheads and crazy outfits. Yeah. Then, a couple of minutes into it, a flying curly-haired hippy guy comes on the screen. If he wasn't high, then he definitely was so much in his life that he's just permanently high now! The background was a cartoon, and every once in a while they turned into cartoons. They both talked like valley girls, that were high.

Once I got over the initial shock of the strangeness of it all, I started trying the poses. I wasn't really focusing and doing the best job, b/c TJ was freaking out and running all over the place b/c he seemed to think I was going to force him to do it. I discovered that I am less flexible than I thought, and that I don't have the balance I'd hoped I had. Nevertheless, it was fun, and I felt better after having done it. It wasn't too hard, and it was slow, which I like. I'm not too big on breaking a sweat. TJ even ended up doing one pose with me at the very end, how nice.

So, about an hour before Trey got home last night, suddenly I felt the effects of my early afternoon workout. The back of my legs introduced me to muscles that I had no idea existed before then! "Well, that's cool, I suppose. I guess that means it's working," I thought. So, like an idiot, when Trey got home, I felt the urge to do it again, and so I did.

I awoke from my sleep about three hundred times last night. I felt like I was having a heart attack each time, and there was no position that I could stay comfortable in. When I awoke this morning, it was the same. Every movement induced a heart attack-like feeling in the middle of my chest (which I'm sure is not where I'd feel a heart attack). It felt like my sternum had broken in two, and the sharp edges were sticking into major organs. Undoubtedly, while doing my lax impression of kid yoga last night, I pulled something in my chest. Not fun. I repeat, NOT FUN. The whole day I have been in extreme pain, and every turn has made me want to cry. I feel much better now, but it still hurts a little.

So, where does that leave me in my new stage? Right now, all I can think about is how much I want to go and do it all again! I've opted to wait until tomorrow to try again, for my chest's sake, but I'm sure as soon as I get a free moment I will be right there in front of the tv ready to try again!

ROFL !! might wanna warm up next time. my gym has baby yoga 2x a week. lol. and the girl who runs it has no sparkles anywhere , nor does she speak like a pothead valley girl. but yours sounds like more fun, like totally!

There's a part at the end where they have finished their animal adventure safari, and they say "HOOOOOMMMMMMMEEEEEE....." Today, while we were at the bonfire, out of nowhere TJ started going "HOOOOOOMMMMMMMEEEEEEE"! It was soo funny!